Hydraulic separator.



F. K. HOOVER & A. J. MASON.

HYDRAULIC SEPARATOR. 7

APPLICATION FILED JUNE 9,1913.

Patented Feb. 16, 1915.

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F. K. HOOVER & A. J. MASON.

HYDRAULIC SEPARATOR.

APPLICATION IPILED JUNE 9, 1911.

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F. K. HOOVER'& A. J. MA$ONL HYDRAULIC SEPARATOR.

APPLICATION FILED JUNE 9. 1911.

Patented Feb. 16, FY9151 m M 1 my" 3 7 w 2 3 1 .w M w: m x 1 1 4 2 a E E 4 2 u i .4. Q z w W a 3 \1 1 1 i 1 l ,1 a 1 5 1 1 3 a FRANK K. HOUVER AND ARTHUR d. MASON, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

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m lication filed June a, ran; Serial no. ceased To all whom it may concern Be it known that we, FRANK K. Hoovnn and ARTHUR J. MASON, citizens of the United fdtates, residing at Chicago, in the county hf Cook and State of Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Hydraulic Separators, of which to a device for separating out through the.

agency of water, clay, iron, sand and other foreign matter from mineral matter, such as phosphate of limeor brown rock which it is desired to obtain in a comparatively pure state.

The subject matter oi the present invention is one of a group of devices which we employ'in carrying out anovel process of treating natural deposits of phosphate rock and like material to contained clay and"other foreign matter and raise the commercial grade thereof as compared with the material in its natural state, such process constituting the subjectmatter of an application filed by us June 9 1911, Serial No. 632,234.

' The separator of the present invention is of the hydraulic type and operates on the principle of extracting the bulk of the mineral to be saved by sedimentation in the face oi an upwardly flowing current of Water and carrying oil the impurities byv overflow. The device is intended to take the through which the material passes, the upiaterial as it is delivered fr m aunixing and washing dev1ce or dasher in which the clay, through a process of tumbling the material in an abundant supply of water, has been brought into suspension; and in its complete and perfected form as herein shown, it comprises essentially a pair of re-' ceptacles, one. superposed upon the other,

per of said receptacles effecting a rough rejection of the clay, and the lower eflecting the rinsing and thorough cleaning of the mineral, the latter being extracted from the bottom of thelower receptacle, and the clay in suspension passing off by overflow from the upper surface of each receptacle.

In the upper of the two receptacles the greater portionabout seven-eighths-of the clay in suspension passes oil with the liquid overflow. In the lower receptacle the solid matter received from the upper receptacle is subjected to a rinsing operaspecification of Letters Patent.

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tages secured thereby, will be-clearly undies I stood when considered in connection-with the accompanying drawings, which illiistrate one practical mechanical form in pinch the invention may be embodiedfand 1u which- Figure l is a central. vertical sectionthrough a complete separator. Fig. 2 is a.

top plan view thereof. Figs. 3.; 4c, and 5 are horizontal sections on the lines 3-3, 4-4, and 5--5, respectively,.of Fig. 1.

r Referring to the drawings, 1Q designates the holder or container of the upper receptacle, taking the form of an inverted cone supported on a suitable annular frame member 11 and having at its lower end a discharge aperture 12 controlled bv a ball valve 13 carried by an arm 14-, which latter is pivoted at 15 to lugs 16 secured to the inner surface of the cylindrical wall of the lower receptacle 17. This latter, as herein shown, is a plain upright cylindrical vessel open at its upper end and having a flat bottom wall 18 provided with a central discharge aperture 19 likewise controlled by a ball valve 20 carried on the free end of a weighted lever 21 pivoted at 22 to lugs 23 on the bottom of the vessel 17.

Across the top of the coneshaped vessel .10 is laid a series of parallel closelv assembled channels 24 so disposed that their up per edges are slightly below the upper edge or rim of the vessel itself; and across the tops of these channels are laid a pair of bars 25 supporting a centrally apertured plate 26 in which is set a funnel 27 which receives the material to be treated from'the discharge end of the dasher (not shown) through a delivery chute28 and delivers it centrally to the vessel 10. Across and beneath the outer ends of the channels 24 are set receiving troughs 29 from which the overflow may be conducted to a suitable upper edge or rim of the vessel, said-Johannels being adapted to deliver the liquid at their ends into underlying transverse troughs 31. The upper troughs 29 are preferably arranged to deliver into the lower? troughs 31 by means of down flow pipes 32 or equivalent connections. I

To effect the distribution or, dispersion of the solid matter delivered'from the upper receptacle into the lower receptacle 17 throughout substantially the entire cross-sectional area of the latter we utilize the spher'i cal ball valve 13, which is so formed as to act as a distributer. Toward the bottom of the tank 17 is a pipe 36 arranged for the delivery of clean water entering through a supply pipe'37 passed through the sidewall of the tank.

For the purpose of controlling the upwardly flowing stream of clean water entering through pipe 36, and causing it to mingle with the downwardly passing material, we provide an annular zigzag chamber formed by, and between'outer and inner corrugated walls 34: and 35, whereby there is formed an annular passage for both the rising and descending streams; the material having a specific gravity of more than twice that of water passing downward, and the stream of water under pressure from pipe 36 passing upward.

When the ball valve 13 is opened, the material lying in the lower portion of the cone 10 influencedby-a head of about four feet rushes through the opening, the specific form of the valve causing it to scatter in the man ner indicated. It then proceeds downward crossingthe upfiowing water with each corrugation of the annular passage way, until it lodges in the lower portion ofthe tank 17.

T he ball valves .13 and 20 maybe manually operated, but are preferably both actuated in suitably timed order through some arm 53, to which latter are connected 'byintermittently operating valve-actuating mechanism; such a mechanlsm being ind cated in connection with Fig. 1 and consist-'- ing of a cam 51 on a rotary shaft 52, acting once at each revolution to raise a pivoted cords 5a and 55, weighted levers 56 and 21., theformer being connected by a cord 58 to the arm 14 which carries the ball valve, 13,

, while the latter itself carries the ball valve 20; the arrangement being such that the weighted levers 56 and 21 normally holdthe ball valves closed, while the engagement of the cam 51 with the arm 53, which may ocour six to eight times a minute, allows said valves to slowly open, the counter-weights rapidly closing them as the abrupt side of the cam 51 passes off the free end of arm 53.

Under this plan we find that the solid material treated is accompanied at the points of discharge through the ball valve by about an equal weight of water; the loss of this amount of water not being suflicientto materially disturb the overflow at channels 24 and 30. The emission of material through the discharge openings 12 and 19 is vigor-- the greater part of the'clay and foreign matter, and also. some finer particles of phosphate rock or other mineral being treated, that is particles ranging from a.

maximum diameter of one one-hundredth of an inch to impalpable powder.

As the material delivered by trough 28" needs further dilution in its early stages,"we introduce an additional supply of water through a pipe 37, delivering into the upper end of the funnel 27 and meeting and com mingling with the material delivered by trough 28. A diaphragm 50 is preferably secured slightly below"the'-l owerend of the funnel 27 for the purpos'e'of dispersing the material tobe treated throughout the cross sectional area of the'receptacle 10. An additional supply of clean water is introduced to the receptacle 10 through a pipe 37 entering the side of the latter',the function of this stream being to render clean the de-' posit of rock in the bottom of the cone, the

effect being that this clean water displacesthe muddy water existing throughout the upper portion of the cone,

Referring again to the action taking place within the tank 17, it will be manifest that as the direction and movement of the descending particles is opposed by the upward movement of the water, the latter andthe particles of material crossing each 'others path at every bend of the zigzag annular channel, a very thorough rinsing and cleaning of the mineral matter takes place. Where an abundant supply of water is avail able, the upper receptacle 10 may be dispensed with, and the material fromthe washer delivered directly into the upper end of the tank 17. In efiecting the do livery of the solid matter from both the upper and lower tanks, only a part of the accumulated solid matter is withdrawn at a time, as above explained, in order-to limit the escape of water at these points as much as possible. The cleansed mineral matter delivered from the tank 17 is, in accordance with our improved process of treating phosphate rock, subsequently drained then dried; while the overflow from both tanks is further treated to separate out and save the fine particles of mineral matter. With 'these subsequent operations, however, the

aseru device at the eerned.

We claim:

l. in a separator for the purpose described, the eoinbination with an upper receptacle provided with an overflow for the water and matter suspended therein, and with an opening at its lower end for the present invention is not condischarge of the solid matter, of a lower reiii ceptacle receiving the solid matter from the upper receptacle, a valve located beneath the water level in said lower receptacle beneath and controlling said opening having a convex upper surface adapted, wlien the" ceptacle provided with an overflow for the water and matter suspended therein, and with an opening at its lower end for the discharge of the solid matter, of a lower receptacle receiving the solid matter from til of said water from the top of said lower said upper receptacle, a valve located be neath the water level in said lower receptacle movable toward and from said opening means for intermittently opening and closing said valve, means for introducing *aterun'der pressure into the lower portion of said lower receptacle, means within said lower receptacle for causing the descending solid matter and the ascending water to intercept each others paths, and means for effecting a uniformly distributed overflow receptacle, 3, In a separator for the purpose described, the combination with an upper receptacle of inverted cone shape provided with an overflow for the water and matter suspended thereim'and with an opening at its apex orlower end for the discharge of the solid matter, of a lower receptacle receiving the solid matter from the upper receptacle, a valve beneath andcontrolling I said opening having a rounded upper sur face adapted to disperse said solid matter throughout the cross-sectional area of said lower receptacle and located beneath the Water level in said lower receptacle, means for intermittently opening and closing said Whey for introducing clean water under pressure into the lower portion of said lower receptacle, and means for effecting a uniformly distributed overflow of said water from the top of said lower receptacle, whereby the descending solid matter and the ascending water intercept and pass each other while flowing in opposite directions through said lower receptacle.

4.1m a separator for the purpose described. the combination of superposed upper and lower washing receptacles. both of said receptacles having overflow devices at their upper ends for the discharge of'water carrying suspended foreign matter, and openings at their lower ends for the discharge of solid matter. the upper receptacle being adaptedto discharge into the lower receptacle and beneath the water level thereof, valves adapted to open and close sa d discharge openings, the valve of the upper receptacle being located below the liquid,

level of the lower receptacle and being so adapted to spread the material in said lower receptacle, and means for intermittently opening and closing said valves.

FR ANK K. HOOVER. ARTHUR J. MASON. Witnesses:

SAMUEL N..P0ivn, C. A Knnroiv, 

